Curse of the Heart
by Peachy Hikaru
Summary: A series of milestones in the lives of Haninozuka Mitsukuni and Kanazuki Reiko.


Their first date doesn't exactly go swimmingly.

The first time they attempt to do something as a couple that isn't simply eating cake after Host Club, it is a disaster of comedic proportions. They run into the twins, who won't stop laughing, and into Tamaki, who falls all over himself dramatically exclaiming his congratulations. That's not even the worst part, though. The pair had expected several Host Club members to be at the summer festival, observing the commoners at their festivities and perhaps trying some commoner snacks, and the Host Club members, while mildly annoying, are always fun to be around and certainly not malicious.

It's when they run into several Host Club fangirls that things get ugly.

Mitsukuni is sitting on a bench eating a taiyaki while waiting for Reiko to come out of the restroom when a few of the Host Club regulars walk up to him. Dressed in beautiful pastel-colored yukatas, they look every bit like the refined and wealthy young ladies they are.

"Hani-senpai! It's so good to see you here!" one of them, whose name he can't quite recall at the moment, gushes. "Are you alone? Where's Mori-senpai?" another asks.

He smiles at them sunnily. "Hello, everyone! I'm here without Takashi today!" he says, holding Usa-chan tightly to him. "I'm actually here with Reiko-chan, who's just stepped into the restroom!"

With perfect timing, Reiko walks up to them at that moment. "Mitsukuni, sorry to keep you waiting," she said before noticing the other girls. "Oh, hello," she offers shyly. Since starting her relationship with Mitsukuni, she'd been trying – with his frequent encouragement – to come out of her shell more and be more polite and friendly to others.

Mitsukuni beams at her. She looks splendid this evening, in a black yukata adorned with dark red roses and an obi that transitioned from red to black. The front layers of her long black hair had been left down to frame her face, while the longer layers had been pulled back into a messy bun, a single burgundy rose sitting at an angle on top of the bun.

"Reiko-chan, how nice to see you here!" the girl who had first spoken says, her voice suddenly dripping with venom. Reiko looked up in surprise just in time to see another girl throw her ice cream at her face and neck, where it started to drip down into her yukata.

"Oh no, I slipped! How awful!" she says. "It was very nice seeing you two, bye now!" The group of girls wave goodbye and sashay off, giggling to themselves. Reiko watches them leave tearfully, feeling the sticky ice cream melt and drip everywhere.

"Reiko-chan, let's go get you cleaned up!" Mitsukuni exclaims, jumping off the bench and grabbing her hand. She nods as he leads her over to a row of sinks, dampening some paper towels and attempting to clean the mess off her face and neck.

"Mitsukuni, forget it. It's all over my yukata and some of it is starting to drip into my camisole. Shall we just leave?" she says quietly. Noticing how upset she was by the incident, he agrees and quickly calls for his driver.

She cleans up at his place, wears a pair of his pyjamas all night as they watch movies in his bed until she falls asleep with her head in his lap. Looking over at her as he turns off the television, Mitsukuni supposes that the date didn't go all that badly. He smiles as he snuggles up to her.

* * *

On Valentine's Day, Reiko attempts to bake sweets for Mitsukuni. It takes some planning because of the sheer volume of sweets he can eat, and she wants to provide some variety. On the menu for Valentine's Day are macarons, chocolate mousse, three different flavors of cake – Devil's food cake, strawberry shortcake and Oreo cheesecake – as well as some homemade fruit sorbet and gelatos. She spends the three days before Valentine's Day in a frenzy in the kitchen, terrifying her servants and cooks who wonder if they're going to be sacked for doing such a bad job that the young mistress has to get her hands dirty.

It's not as simple as having tea at her home after Host Club, unfortunately – every Valentine's Day the Host Club throws an extravagant ball that lasts till late at night. Reiko would prefer not to go, but Mitsukuni had asked nicely and she hadn't known how to say no.

So here she was, standing with her back against the wall in a ballroom in the school (what kind of school has a ballroom?) wearing a simple black evening gown with a diamanté sweetheart neckline. She fidgets uncomfortably, clenching a fistful of her skirt before smoothing it out again. This is rather out of her comfort zone, but she and Mitsukuni have been working on making her more comfortable in these social situations. She watches Mitsukuni and Morinozuka-senpai entertain the girls clustered around them together, Mitsukuni clutching at Usa-chan and a plate full of cake, of course. Tamaki is being his usual princely self, sparkling while he twirls around, to the giggles and squeals of his many fangirls.

When Haruhi comes up beside her she starts and stares at him, surprised. "Hello, Haruhi-kun," she says cautiously.

Haruhi smiles at her. "Are you enjoying yourself?" he asks gently. "I know this isn't really your thing."

Reiko stares down at her hands. "Oh, I, um… I suppose. Mitsukuni wanted me to come." She looks up and meets his gaze, flushing slightly and smiling shyly at him.

Haruhi looks at the exchange, slightly bemused. "He really does care for you, you know. He had those girls at the summer fair banned from the club. I don't think even Mori-senpai has ever seen him so furious."

Reiko turns crimson, sputtering slightly in her surprise. "Oh, I, um… thank you," she says politely, not knowing what else to say. Haruhi-kun smiles at her. "I think you two are good for each other, you know. All of us wish the two of you all the best."

Just then, Mitsukuni rubs his eyes and says loudly in a childlike, lilting voice, "I'm sleepy! Takashi, shall we go home?" As the girls swoon and fuss over him, he gets off Morinozuka-senpai's shoulders and walks over to Reiko. "Shall we leave?" he asks her in a completely different tone.

"Yes, please. It was very lovely talking to you," she says to Haruhi as the two of them leave, Mitsukuni holding her hand in his.

As they walk away, Haruhi can hear Hani-senpai enthusiastically exclaiming his excitement to try Reiko's first attempt at baking. Tamaki comes up behind her and drapes his arm over her shoulders. "They're such a cute cute couple, aren't they?" he gushes, in full-on idiotic sparkle mode. Haruhi laughs and leans into him slightly. "They are," she agrees, watching them walk out of the ballroom.

Back at the Kanazuki mansion, the couple is camped out in the massive kitchen, sitting on the floor and giggling over all the different sweets. Reiko only has a little of each; after all, she knows what's in those cakes and the thought of eating too much of the sinful cakes makes her cringe, plus the way Mitsukuni is devouring them makes her a little afraid that she may lose a finger if her hand strays too close to the cakes.

"Reiko-chan, these are delicious!" he exclaims between large bites of cake as Reiko watched on, absently wondering how he was always able to fit so much cake into such a little body. "These are the best cakes I've ever had."

Reiko blushes at the extravagant compliment. "Well, I'm sure that can't be true, but thank you very much anyway," she demurs.

Mitsukuni swallows his mouthful of cake and puts the fork down. He leans in closer to her and nuzzles her cheek with his nose. "The cake is excellent, because you made it, Reiko-chan. I'll always eat your cake," he promises. The feel of his warm breath ghosting over her face and neck make her blush and start to pull away, but he quickly stops her by putting a hand on her shoulder as he leans in to kiss her.

Mitsukuni, as always, tastes faintly of cake and whipped cream.

* * *

White Day is a stressful day for the hosts. They tend to order boxes of chocolate in bulk from a premier chocolatier in Japan in bulk and give them to all the best customers, and the girls tend to enjoy being handed the chocolates personally by their favourite hosts. There are always a few, however, who get upset because they were not given handmade chocolates, and the Host Club always has a handful of the Ootori family's police force on hand in case a customer gets too uncontrollable, to carefully remove these overly emotional ladies.

Mitsukuni is the only Host Club member in a relationship – Tamaki and Haruhi are still in the uncertain stage of tiptoeing around each other, while the rest of the boys are carefree bachelors. That's fine, but on White Day, Mitsukuni is at a loss for what to do for Reiko-chan. She had worked so hard to make such wonderful sweets for him, and he isn't really sure what to do in return to show her how important she is to him. He'd suggested going the usual route of handmade chocolates, but when he'd suggested it to Takashi he'd turned a little green and calmly suggested that Mitsukuni try something different and unique. Remembering how bad he was in the kitchen, Mitsukuni had to agree.

What he comes up with instead, though, is nothing short of magnificent. His grand plan has to take place after club activities, since it would be impossible for him to take the day off on White Day, which is just as well since Reiko-chan has her own club activities to attend. His excitement and good mood are palpable to everyone that day, including the Host Club customers, who exclaim over his extra exuberance and cuteness on that day.

When the Host Club session finally ends, Mitsukuni hastily bids goodbye to the rest of the Hosts, including Takashi, and runs over to the room where the Black Magic club holds their sessions, just in time for Reiko-chan to come out, chatting with Nekozawa about a new tarot card technique he'd read about in a magazine recently.

When Mitsukuni greets them both, Reiko-chan smiles at him shyly and takes his hand, while Nekozawa lifts his hood slightly to wink at Mitsukuni, since he knows about his White Day plans for Reiko.

"Mitsukuni, I wasn't aware that we had plans today," Reiko-chan comments as calmly as ever, even though her mind is racing with possibilities.

"I know, it's a surprise!" he exclaims, tugging gently on her arm. "Nice to see you, Nekozawa!"

"Goodbye, Nekozawa-senpai. I'll see you next week," Reiko-chan says before following him. "Mitsukuni, where are we going?"

He laughs excitedly. "My place! I have a surprise for you there." That's all he says about it, and Reiko doesn't probe further, knowing it will be futile, although she's dying to know more about the surprise. While they chat in his limo on the way to his home, Mitsukuni can't help but smile at Reiko-chan's adorable expression, her face revealing the anticipation she is feeling although the way she's sitting, with her hands folded in her lap, she looks every inch the calm Japanese lady. Smiling, he reaches over and takes one of her hands into his, and she adjusts herself so that she's half-leaning against his slight but strong frame. He reaches over with his other hand and pets her hair affectionately.

On reaching Mitsukuni's house, they immediately head towards his room, Reiko towed along by Mitsukuni, who can hardly wait to show her his surprise. In his suite of rooms, he stops in front of a rarely-used sitting room and reaches up to blindfold Reiko, using his uniform tie.

"Reiko-chan, are you ready?" he asks, almost giddy with excitement. When she touches the blindfold around her head and nods her assent, he throws open the door and ushers her in carefully.

"Okay, you can take it off now!" he almost shouts. Reiko wonders why he bothered to blindfold her when just throwing the door open would have worked, but writes it off as one of his idiosyncrasies and unties the tie.

She sucks in a deep breath in shock as she spins in a full circle, taking in the room. Her eyes, unexpectedly, well with tears. "Mitsukuni, this is…" her voice trails off. She's staring at her very own black magic room – she has one in her own house, but this one, hard as it is to believe, is so much better. Tarot cards are stacked on a table in one corner, and a whole shelf of rare black magic books is lined up against a wall. All the things she could possibly need to cast black magic spells are sitting on shelves or tables, and the whole room is cast in ambient low lighting.

He beams at her. "Do you like it?" he asks. Stupid question – of course she likes it, she loves it. She sniffles a little. "I can't believe you did all this, for me!"

He hummed. "It wasn't easy, I have no idea about all of this stuff so I had to rely on Nekozawa a lot for his help and expertise… I'm just glad it worked out. You're his favourite junior, you know. He was more than happy to help."

"Mitsukuni…" she says a little tearfully. "I love you so much," she blurts out, before slapping her hand over her mouth and sinking to the ground, her eyes wide. She desperately tries to cover her tracks. "Um, I mean…"

He laughs and kneels down next to her, kissing her on the cheek. "I love you too," he says tenderly, pulling her into his arms.

She nestles into his side, and feeling more content than she ever has before, does something very uncharacteristic of her. "This room is amazing. You had better be ready for me to spend all my time here," she says teasingly.

He only nuzzles her face, and says quietly, "That's what I was hoping for."

* * *

The day that Mitsukuni leaves for Boston is a sad day for the couple. He had made preparations by stressing to his family and staff that Reiko-chan was to be allowed into his suite whenever she wanted, even if he wasn't home, so that she could have unfettered access to the black magic room where she spent a lot of her time these days.

Mitsukuni and Takashi are at the airport, almost ready to board – except for that fact that Mitsukuni refuses to let go of Reiko-chan, hanging on to her waist and sniffling occasionally. Takashi looks on in mild amusement at Reiko-chan's flustered expression, and decides to try and help. "Mitsukuni," he says stoically. "It's time to go."

"But I'll miss Reiko-chan so much!" he almost wails, and Takashi rolls his eyes.

"Mitsukuni, you're being ridiculous. You were the one who wanted to go to Boston with everyone," he says firmly.

Mitsukuni looks up at Reiko-chan then, his eyes shiny. "Reiko-chan, I'll miss you!" he says tearfully. At that, Reiko-chan's expression softens slightly, and she leans down to kiss him. "I'll miss you too," she says, smiling, before leaning close to his ear and whispering something that Takashi can't hear. He can guess though, by the way Mitsukuni's grip on her waist slackens slightly and he stares at her in something akin to awe. At that, she calmly extricates herself from his iron grip, and pushes the huge pile of cakes and sweets that she made for him closer to him. "Here's the sweets I made for you, don't forget it or eat it too fast on the plane. I love you, have fun in Boston, and text me as soon as you land. I'll Skype you soon, okay?" At that, she starts to leave.

"Reiko-chan, I love you too," he calls out, still sounding slightly vacant, and turns to look at Takashi with almost glassy eyes for a second, before he blinks and clears his throat, slightly embarrassed. "Takashi, let's go," he says gruffly, blushing, and makes his way to the Haninozuka private jet, carrying the stack of cake boxes that look taller than him.

* * *

Reiko fidgets slightly as she stands in the arrival hall of the small airport that only caters to private planes. Today Mitsukuni and Morinozuka-senpai are returning from Boston permanently, and Reiko, for some reason, feels nervous. She picks at the fabric of the loose black blouse she's wearing and wiggles her toes in her Louboutin heels, transferring her bag from one hand to another.

She wonders why she's so nervous – it's not like she and Mitsukuni haven't seen each other in the year he's been away. They Skyped almost every night, and he came back to Tokyo frequently to visit her, but somehow it's different now that he's back permanently. Things have changed a lot in the year that he'd been away. Their relationship had been stalled; never progressing, and now she had a feeling that things may happen too fast, too soon. After all, she's entering Ouran University after the summer break and has been the head of the black magic club since Nekozawa-senpai graduated, and Mitsukuni is entering his final year of college. He's almost twenty-two now, and she knows what that means for someone of his status: marriage. She looks down at her shoes as she ponders the uncertain future. Either they will be engaged very soon, or the relationship will have to end. The Haninozuka family may not accept someone of her social standing as the wife of the heir of the Haninozuka clan, and if they don't, their relationship is doomed to failure. Although her family does not have the same social standing as the Haninozukas, she has to get married and cannot possibly be in a long-term extramarital affair – not that the thought appeals to her in the least.

She sighs at the troubling turn her thoughts have taken and looks back up, finally seeing the small plane with the Haninozuka crest emblazoned on the tail taxi to a stop in front of the small building. Minutes later, the door opens and Mitsukuni bounds out excitedly, followed by a calmer Morinozuka-senpai.

"Reiko-chan!" Mitsukuni bursts exuberantly through the doors to the airport, making a beeline for her. He immediately flings himself at her, wrapping her up in his arms and squeezing so tightly she almost feels like she's losing circulation. Almost, but not quite. She knows Mitsukuni is hyperaware of his strength and would never hurt her. She wraps her arms around him and squeezes as hard as she can.

"I missed you," she mumbles into his neck, and he rubs her back in response. "I missed you too, Reiko-chan! I bought you so many things while I was in Boston," he says as he lets her go and takes her hand, leading her out of the airport and to the waiting car. When he does so, she blinks in surprise. "You grew again!" He turns back to look at her and grins. "I did! Are you surprised?" She laughs a little at him and shakes her head.

Belatedly, she realizes that she's been rather rude to Morinozuka-senpai and turns to face him. "Morinozuka-senpai, its nice to see you again," she says formally, bowing her head slightly. He looks at her, vaguely amused, before responding in kind. It's kind of adorable that after dating Mitsukuni for almost two years now, she's still so formal with him.

Mitsukuni chatters on excitedly in the car as the pair snuggle up together, Morinozuka-senpai sitting across from them and contributing to the conversation whenever Mitsukuni pauses to allow him to interject. When they get back to the Haninozuka mansion, the Haninozuka matriarch, Mitsukuni's mother, comes out to greet them, before greeting Reiko more hesitantly.

It's no secret that although the Haninozuka clan's leaders find her likable enough, they don't find her an appropriate life partner for Mitsukuni. The Kanazuki family is no match for the Haninozuka family, and that alone is enough to ensure that she will never get their approval to marry Mitsukuni, no matter how fond they are of her.

At that sobering thought, she steps away from Mitsukuni slightly. "I should leave you to catch up with your family. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she says, before starting to walk away.

"Wait, Reiko-chan, are you sure? You don't live that close to here, I can have my driver send you home."

She smiles slightly sadly. "It's all right, Mitsukuni. I don't mind walking. It helps to clear the mind."

Watching her figure get smaller and smaller before she turns a corner, Mitsukuni says to Takashi, "She's worried about something."

"Yeah. You're in your twenties now and she's turning nineteen. Things have changed."

Mitsukuni hums in response. "Yeah," he echoes. "Things have changed."

* * *

The day that Reiko-chan graduates from university is a bittersweet day for the couple. Mitsukuni is incredibly proud of Reiko-chan for somehow managing to graduate summa cum laude with a double degree in law and finance. She'd also become the president of the black magic club in the university after Nekozawa graduated and moved to Russia to manage the new branch of his family's business there. It was just as well, since Russia had very little sun.

Mitsukuni and Takashi both sit together in the audience, Mitsukuni on the verge of bursting into tears while Takashi looks on fondly. Since Reiko-chan is his junior in the small, tightly-knit law faculty, the two have gotten closer and become friends as well. Mitsukuni sniffles slightly as Reiko-chan accepts her certificate, and when the graduating class flings their hats in the air, Mitsukuni jumps up from his seat and makes a beeline for Reiko-chan.

"Reiko-chan, I'm so proud of you!" That's the only warning Reiko gets before Mitsukuni flings himself at her, hugging her tightly. She smiles as she hugs him back. "Thank you, Mitsukuni."

While the two pose for photos with Reiko's classmates, family, Takashi and the Host Club members, they both try not to think about what the future has in store for them, although it's impossible. Now that he's twenty-four, Mitsukuni's parents have been arranging omiai after omiai for him despite his protests, and now that Reiko-chan has graduated, he's certain her family will do so for her too. Something has to be done.

* * *

The day after Reiko is dragged to her first omiai practically by her hair, she decides that she has to break up with Mitsukuni. She doesn't want to, by any mreans, but given that their lives are taking increasingly divergent paths it seems like the correct thing to do. She has a duty to her family, and he has a duty to his.

(Unbeknownst to her he'd convinced his parents that the joining of the Haninozuka clan to the Kanazuki clan through marriage would be an asset to the Haninozukas on account of Reiko-chan's excellent academic records and the good work that she had done for the Kanazuki family company in the two years since she'd graduated and joined as a junior executive, and had a ring in his pocket, waiting to pop the question.)

"Mitsukuni," she begins, then stops. Clears her throat and tries again. He watches her with big eyes as she struggles with what she wants to say and finally gives up. "Mitsukuni, right now, there's something I want to tell you, but I cannot find the words, so I will use curse gestures instead." It's something she hasn't done in many years, but she doesn't know how else to express herself.

"Uh, you want to hold hands? If that's what you're saying, I'll do it." She shook her head and tried again.

"You want to go to a haunted house at a theme park with me?" She shook her head. "That's not it, you ought to just say it."

She took a deep breath and continued gesturing with her hands. Please understand, she implored silently.

"Get married? Okay then, shall we?"

"What." She says it flatly, her hands dropping to her sides. How had things gone so wrong? "No, I- "

"Reiko-chan, I know you're worried about what's going to happen now that we both have to get married and I know what you were trying to say. You don't have to worry though, I talked to my parents and yours and they're all on board with us getting married. So…" At that, he gets down on one knee and pulls out the small jewelry box. He opens it to reveal a beautiful solitaire square-cut diamond, set in a platinum band with beaded diamonds going around the circumference. The diamond itself is clear as glass, twinkling merrily in the light. "Kanazuki Reiko, will you do me the absolute honor of marrying me and becoming Haninozuka Reiko?"

Her eyes shining brightly with tears, Reiko nods and Mitsukuni takes her hand to slide the ring on it. It fit perfectly, just as he knew it would. After nine years of being together, he knows everything there is to know about her. Well, almost. And now that they're getting married, he will know everything about her, even if it takes a lifetime of learning and growing together.

He stands and pulls her into his arms. "We'll be together always, Reiko-chan," he promises, and feels her nod into his neck, sniffling slightly.

* * *

The wedding between Kanazuki Reiko and Haninozuka Mitsukuni is a bit of a madhouse. Any wedding between two families of such high social standing is bound to be a huge affair, exhausting and hectic, but with the influence of the Host Club, the event seemed to spiral out of control. Unsurprisingly, Tamaki is in his element planning wedding decorations and themes despite being extremely busy with his family company, and the twins frequently snatch Reiko away from Mitsukuni for wedding fittings, not allowing him to see her at all or give him any hint about what the dress looks like. Once they even had her in the now out-of-bounds suite in the Haninozuka mansion for two whole days while Mitsukuni stood outside and whined about them stealing his fiancée. By the time Reiko-chan came out, she was smiling but collapsed into his arms exhausted, and he'd basically had to carry her back to his – soon to be their – suite.

Still, the wedding is beautiful, a resplendent affair. After the grand ceremony in a church, the most lavish party is thrown, lasting for several days – not that the happy couple is there for most of it, as they decide instead to get an early start on producing the next Haninozuka heir. All of the hosts are groomsmen – of course, and several speeches are given by Takashi, Haruhi, and Nekozawa, who was most touched to have been asked to speak at their wedding.

On the last evening of the long wedding reception, the only one the couple stayed for the whole time, the love that they have for each other is obvious to everyone there. They aren't blatantly lovey-dovey in a way that grates on most people's nerves, but it's the little ways in which they interact, that they seem almost oblivious to, that show how compatible they are; bringing each other a glass of water or wine whenever they start to get thirsty, the small touches and caresses they give each other while chatting with the guests, the sly looks and smiles they give each other when they think no one's watching. And as the guests leave, they all remark to each other that this couple, unlike so many others in their social circles, will last a lifetime.

* * *

It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows the couple when barely a year after marriage, Haninozuka Reiko announces her pregnancy. The reactions of the Host Club are predictable: the twins smirk as they congratulate the couple and slap Mitsukuni on the back, Tamaki gets so emotional that he hugs the both of them while wailing, Kyoya immediately starts making arrangements for Reiko to deliver at the Ootori private hospital and has the best specialists to monitor the pregnancy, and Haruhi just sighs at the boys as she congratulates the couple calmly and spends most of the day chatting with Reiko about her experiences, trying to offer a listening ear and some encouragement.

Takashi, of course, knew that Reiko was pregnant since he sees them both at least once a week, and he figured it out the day he saw Reiko still in bed in the middle of the day, crying while eating peasant ramen with marshmallows floating in it, as Mitsukuni fusses over her like a worried mother.

At the end of the day, Mitsukuni helps Reiko back to their room, despite her protests that she's perfectly able to move about by herself. He's been almost overbearing in his determination to make her pregnancy as easy as possible ever since she told him about her pregnancy. He'd been completely there for her since the beginning, even guessing that she was pregnant even before she had.

When one morning he'd woken up to the sounds of her retching in their bathroom and rushed to her, wondering if she was sick, only to find her with her head pressed against the porcelain bathtub next to the toilet mumbling about how hungry she was, he'd had his suspicions, which were only confirmed when she bounced back surprisingly quickly after being sick and ate even more than usual at breakfast that day. On the fourth day in a row that this happened, he presented her with five different pregnancy tests and made her use all of them.

Five positive tests later, Reiko-chan was sitting on the floor of the bathroom, stunned speechless, while Mitsukuni pet her hair soothingly as he made an appointment with their family doctor for a general checkup.

As Mitsukuni tucks her into bed and pats the covers down around her before sliding into his side of the bed and pulling her close, Reiko snuggles close to him and closes her eyes while wondering, not for the first time, how she was so blessed.

* * *

By the eighth month of Reiko's pregnancy, she's absolutely ready to give birth. She's so heavy that she can't move around easily and spends most of her days at home in bed, which of course means that Mitsukuni moves most of his work into the study in their suite so that he can be close to her. He also refuses to allow her to work too much, even from their bed, which means that she's hopelessly behind on her work. She also has to get up every twenty minutes to use the toilet, _and_ is short of breath all the time, the worst of two worlds, which of course happens when someone as petite as Reiko has to carry twins.

Reiko is also tired all the time now, and often wakes up with no memory of falling asleep to a dark room with Mitsukuni absently petting her hair as he frowns over his own paperwork. When she shifts and blinks up at him, confused and disorientated, he looks over at her and smiles as he asks if she's hungry and would she like some cake. (The answer, always, is yes. It would appear that Mitsukuni's children have inherited his sweet tooth.)

Mitsukuni has also taken to stroking her enormous belly and sides as they snuggle in bed, hoping for a kick from one of his children. That's fine, but what isn't fine is the way others seem to think her belly is fair game and like to touch her unexpectedly, something which no curse has been able to fix. She remains hopeful though, and continues to try and create new curses to discourage people from touching her in her black magic room.

* * *

Mitsukuni is a wreck, even more so than Reiko, who is currently in labour. As she pants and moans through each contraction, Mitsukuni is almost frantic as he watches her suffer through a pain he can do nothing about – worse, a pain that he _caused._

"Oh, God, Reiko-chan, I'm so sorry. I'll never touch you again, please be okay," he babbles as he brushes her hair off her sweaty brow.

Takashi rolls his eyes. "Better not be making promises you know you won't keep, Mitsukuni. Keep going, Reiko-chan. You're doing great." he says as calmly as ever. Reiko eyes him and wonders if he has ever been fazed by anything. The rest of the Host Club was waiting outside the room, but because Takashi and Mitsukuni were almost worryingly codependent (and because Reiko had correctly anticipated that Takashi's ability to keep his cool would be very much appreciated during her birthing) he was in the room together with them and the doctor.

"Okay, Haninozuka-sama. You're almost ready to push, just a little more," the doctor speaks up. "You're doing well so far, it's almost over."

Reiko squeezes Mitsukuni's hand hard as she presses her sweaty forehead against his. "God dammit, this hurts," she curses between gritted teeth. It's all very uncharacteristic of her, but since she has to squeeze two fully-formed babies from her body, she thinks she's entitled. Mitsukuni brings his other hand up to caress her cheek as he murmurs words of encouragement and adoration to her.

"You're fully dilated. I need you to push as hard as you can now, okay?" the doctor reports. In response, Reiko clenches her teeth as she bears down as hard as she can, her breath hissing out from between her teeth. "Oh, Jesus Christ," she swears as she gathers her wits to repeat the action, again and again.

"I can see the head!" the doctor cries. "Just a little more and this one will be out," he encourages. Steeling herself, Reiko makes one last Herculean effort to push as hard as she can and feels the first baby slide free as she collapses into Mitsukuni's waiting arms. The doctor quickly cuts the umbilical cord and passes the infant to a waiting nurse as he repositions himself for the next one. "Haninozuka-sama, I know you're exhausted, but I need you to push again, okay?"

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she nods as she redoubles her efforts to push. Mitsukuni holds her in his arms as he brushes the sweat away from her face and peppers kisses along her brow. "I love you, I love you so much, and you're so brave for doing this…" As reassuring as his voice is, she tunes him out as she focuses on bringing her second child into the world.

"And she's out!" the doctor says triumphantly as the second child slides into his waiting hands. Reiko slumps back into Mitsukuni's embrace, almost asleep, as the two babies are cleaned and weighed. Takashi is holding one of them and a nurse is holding the other as they approach the couple.

"Congratulations, you're now the proud parents of…"

* * *

 _Hello! Did anyone miss me? It's been a while, hasn't it! I hope you enjoyed this cute little work; I certainly enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if I managed to keep them in character because there's so little material on Reiko to work with, and their relationship isn't very well-elaborated in the manga._

 _Also, I'm thinking of doing another fic in this 'verse that focuses on the wedding prep and wedding, and maybe continuing this particular story with them as parents? Let me know if you want to see that, and also, do you think the couple will have two girls, two boys, or one of each?_

 _As always, I would love it if you dropped me a review to let me know what you thought. Love you guys!_

 _Yours,_

 _Peachy Hikaru_

 _P.S. I've been reading a lot of manga recently since I've graduated junior college and have more free time - I'm now toying with the idea of writing a short fic for Skip Beat. Also, if anyone has any cute manga/anime to recommend that's similar to Ouran, Skip Beat, Maid-Sama, the Wallflower etc, I would love to know about it!_


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